Nigeria: Press spotlights drop in Naira value despite $2bn debt repayment, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the naira has lost 26.36 per cent of its value against the dollar at the official Investor and Exporter window of the foreign exchange market since the Central Bank of Nigeria announced it has cleared $2bn as part of its backlog obligations is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that the naira has lost 26.36 per cent of its value against the dollar at the official Investor and Exporter window of the foreign exchange market since the Central Bank of Nigeria announced it has cleared $2bn as part of its backlog obligations.
On Monday, the apex bank disclosed it paid $2bn from the backlog of its forward contract obligations. It stated this when it revealed it had disbursed $61.64m to foreign airlines as part of the matured foreign exchange obligations.
The CBN Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi Alia, said, “These payments signify the CBN’s ongoing efforts to settle all remaining valid forward transactions, to alleviate the current pressure on the country’s exchange rate.
“It is anticipated that this initiative by the CBN should provide a considerable boost to the Naira hug against other major world currencies and further increase investor confidence in the Nigeria economy.”
On Monday, the naira closed trading at N856.57/$. Since then, the naira has traded above N1000 against the dollar and fell by 26.36 per cent to close at N1082.32/$ on Wednesday, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
This is a slight 0.66 per cent increase from the N1089.51/$ it closed trading on Tuesday. This is the fifth time the naira has closed above N1000 on the official window since the Central Bank of Nigeria removed the rate cap on the national currency.
The newspaper says that the Federal Government is set to spend N450bn on power interventions in 2024.
This is according to the budget analysis of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company. Under the firm’s capital expenditure, N450bn was budgeted for ‘FGN Power Intervention Fund.’
The Government Owned Enterprise’s expenditure intends to spend a total of N454.81bn in 2024.
N2.44bn will be spent on personnel costs, N2.36bn will be spent on other recurrent costs, N580m on general travel and transport, N15m on utilities, N110m on materials and supplies, N210.75m on general maintenance services, N34m on other services, N60m on fuel and lubricants, N40m on financial charges, N576m on miscellaneous, and N736.51m on supplementary overhead.
Most of the firm’s spending would be on power intervention funds in the New Year. As of May 2022, the Federal Government’s intervention fund to electricity distribution companies rose to N2.9trn.
According to a The PUNCH report, the N2.9tn is the total funding extended to the sector since privatisation in 2013. The Federal Government has consistently intervened in the power sector. In 2017, the Federal Executive Council approved N701bn as Power Assurance Guarantee for the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company for two years to pay the generation firms.
In 2019, the government announced that the power sector was going to get another intervention of N600bn. In 2019, the Market Operator, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Edmond Eje, stated, “At this stage I’ll tell you that it is for the market. If the money is injected into the Gencos, it is for the market; if it is injected into the Discos, it is for the market. It is generally for the shortfall in the payment of monthly invoices.”
The Guardian reports that President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, ordered a 60 per cent reduction in his travel expenses and number of officials on his entourage to any state and trips abroad.
The cost-cutting measure, Tinubu explained, cuts across his office, Vice President’s office, as well as that of the First Lady and wife of the Vice President.
He said: “The notion of government wastage, the notion of recurrent expenditure being in excess, the notion that government officials will be allowed to conduct their affairs in a way that is different from what we are asking of Nigerian citizens with respect to prudence and cost management, those days are over.”
In the new development, the President said henceforth, only 20 persons would accompany him on any official foreign trip.
He pegged the number of officials accompanying the Vice President and wife of the President on official trips abroad at five persons respectively.
The President approved 25 persons for his office, 15 for the Vice President and 10 for office of the First Lady on official trips to any state within the country.
Offering more insight into the new arrangement, presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, explained that the directive was to trim the massive bills that accrue from allowances and estacodes for delegations, including security details coming from Abuja.
The newspaper says that the Federal Ministry of Education has set up a committee to review activities of private universities established in the last 15 years.
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, yesterday, said the move would show if the private institutions under investigation have in place requisite facilities, adequate management structure and funding of programmes, among others.
He observed that the inter-ministerial committee raised to investigate the activities of illegal universities will also examine, “the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.”
Giving it eight weeks to submit its report, the minister charged the panel headed by Chairman, Board of Trustees, Committee of Vice Chancellor of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), Prof. Jibrila Amin, to examine the rules, procedures and processes for recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programmes by the Federal Ministry of Education.
While outlining the functions of the committee, Mamman said: “Review the role of any MDA (Ministry, Department and Agency) or its officials (including identifying such officials) in facilitation of the recognition and procurement of the fake certificate in question.
“Review existing policies and procedures relating to accreditation and certification to identify weaknesses contributing to the issue; examine the rules, procedures and processes for recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programmes by the Federal Ministry of Education.
“Establish if unapproved foreign institutions (degree mills) exist or not in Nigeria in whatever form with their identities and locations if any.”
GIK/APA